World first: cut movie footage released for fan mixing under Creative Commons

The producers of the Australia film Two Fists One Heart have released footage that didn’t make the final cut under creative commons for anyone to use and mash up as long as they link back to the promotional site for the film.

The release of over 30 minutes of footage, backed by Disney through Beuna Vista International (Australia), is believed to be a world first for a commercially backed movie.

Two Fists, One Heart producer David Elfick took the decision to embrace the web for promotion, and hired the services of Norg Media head Bronwen Clune for the promotion. So far, the online reachout has included a series of viedos on “how to throw a punch” (available naturally at howtothrowapunch.com); if the title hasn’t given it away, the movie in based around boxing.

Norg Media’s Bronwen Clune told The Inquisitr that she wanted to try something more. “I thought we could push the envelope more. It’s not often you get the ear of major film players and personally I have always thought creative commons is an underutilized concept in the film industry. I see this as an opportunity to prove in some way that the web and it’s culture of sharing and share-alike is a good thing for creative industries.”

Bronwen explains: “the producer mentioned that they had a lot of great footage they weren’t able to use in the film – more than usual – and I suggested to him we not let it be wasted and we release it for anyone to mashup and play with. To me, the thought of footage being wasted and unused when someone could make something really creative with it was a real shame. There are so many people out there cutting great videos and posting them on YouTube, but the biggest barrier is often having the footage to play with. This way we could give them something to use – and the footage is what professional editors deal with – and promote the film at the same time – it was a win-win.”

Encouragement to remix the footage is also incentivized. The best 5 scenes will be posted on YouTube by April 20 will be added to Disney’s promotional Two Fists, One Heart site, and will have access to Bill Russo for editing advice and career assistance.

Footage from Two Firsts One Heart is available for download from Cut Your Own Scene.